The Trump administration has withdrawn a significant initiative that sought to curb diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts across schools and colleges. The Trump administration has filed a notice withdrawing its appeal in a case that sought to roll back more than 60 years of civil rights protections in public education after attempting to require […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Congress pushes back against Trump’s education cuts in FY 2026 budget proposal
This week, both Democratic and Republican congressional lawmakers released a fiscal year 2026 education budget proposal that rejects the Trump administration’s plans to reduce funding for the U.S. Department of Education and eliminate financial aid programs. The plan is part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to “take all necessary steps to close the Department […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
New unbanned book network aims to counter rising book bans in schools
In response to the nationwide surge in book bans, a grassroots organization dedicated to increasing diversity in publishing is launching a program to counteract censorship in schools and libraries. This week, We Need Diverse Books, or WNDB, announced the creation of the Unbanned Book Network, focused on donating books by authors who have been banned and select […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Reframing Accountability: Supporting teachers without losing the heart of education
When I think about accountability in education, I think about the times I stood in front of my students with a walkthrough clipboard looming outside the door. I remember rearranging my lesson plan not because it was best for my students, but because it would check the right boxes on someone else’s rubric. Federal accountability […]
Posted innews
“They’re Taking Children”: Columbia Heights Superintendent speaks out after ICE detains five-year-old student
According to Columbia Heights Public Schools, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained a five-year-old Minnesota boy, Liam Ramos, on Tuesday as he returned home from school. Ramos, who is a preschooler, and his father were taken into custody in their driveway by ICE agents, according to Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik, at a press […]
Posted inESOL
Twice Overlooked: Bilingual Students with Receptive Language Deficits
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, in 2010, 9.2% of all students were English Learners in US public Schools. By 2021, that number increased to 10.6 percent. Similarly, in the state of Illinois, in 2018, 12.1% of the students were English Learners, whereas that number went up to 16% of the students in […]
Posted inMathematics
Math is Beautiful
As my tutoring sessions with Jaylen happily show, how educators view the subject they teach can have a wonderful effect on how their students feel and think about that subject, even one as superficially unwelcoming as math! I’ve volunteered at an elementary/middle school as a tutor for the last eight years, although last school-year was […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
The Algorithm Can Wait: Why preschool might be our most radical institution
Walk into any preschool classroom today and you won’t find what dominates most conversations about the future of education: algorithms, dashboards, learning platforms, AI tutors, or adaptive assessments. Instead, you’ll find something far more radical. A child cracking open a walnut they found on the playground. Two friends negotiating whose turn it is with the […]